The Los Angeles Dodgers (20-13) have already got the largest lead of any division frontrunners in MLB, forward of the second-place San Diego Padres (16-18) by 4.5 video games within the Nationwide League West.
Now, supervisor Dave Roberts’ membership is getting set to welcome again one among their aces, as two-time All-Star Walker Buehler is scheduled to make his season debut on Monday towards the Miami Marlins. After his second Tommy John surgical procedure, Buehler was restricted to 12 begins in 2022 and missed all of 2023.
The precise-hander’s remaining rehab outing with Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis went properly, as he fired 5 innings of one-run ball whereas permitting seven hits and no walks with 5 strikeouts.
Buehler’s return towards Miami presents a mushy touchdown spot for his first MLB outing in 696 days. The Marlins enter Thursday final within the NL in a wide range of classes, together with doubles (36), walks (78), on-base share (.281), slugging share (.328) and OPS (.609), whereas rating 14th in whole bases (352), thirteenth in runs scored (115) and batting common (.223) and tied for thirteenth in dwelling runs (23).
The previous first-round decide hasn’t been on a big-league mound since June 10, 2022, when he pitched towards the San Francisco Giants.
Since then, the Dodgers have been eradicated within the NLDS in back-to-back playoffs regardless of ending with an MLB-best 111 wins in 2022 and third-most 100 wins in 2023.
Los Angeles is as loaded as ever this spring after an offseason that noticed it add two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani and one-time All-Star power-hitting outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to a stacked lineup. Ohtani is an early NL MVP candidate and leads the crew in dwelling runs (seven) and doubles (14), whereas Hernandez is tied for second in dwelling runs (six) and third place in runs scored (21) and RBI (22).
With Buehler, three-time NL Cy Younger Award winner Clayton Kershaw, and different arms nonetheless on the mend, the Dodgers added veteran southpaw James Paxton, longtime Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow, and Japanese sensation Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the rotation.
The trio of newcomers have gone a mixed 11-2 with a 3.31 ERA.
